THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290687
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
The Hampton Roads Admirals might have two affiliates in the American Hockey League next season.
The Pittsburgh Penguins appear close to announcing plans to move their primary affiliation from Cleveland of the International Hockey League to Hershey (Pa.) of the AHL.
The Penguins also have a working agreement with Hampton Roads, and Admirals president Blake Cullen said he hopes the agreement will continue next season with the Penguins regardless of who is their Triple-A affiliate.
Pittsburgh has sent three players to Hampton Roads - Serge Aubin, Sergei Voronov and Alexei Krivchenkov, though Krivchenkov was recalled to Cleveland last month.
The Admirals also have a working agreement with Portland of the AHL and the Washington Capitals. The Caps haven't provided the Admirals with players in years, but the agreement with the Pirates has proven to be lucrative. The Admirals opened the season with six players under contract with the Pirates.
Three of those players - goalie Darryl Paquette, forward David St. Pierre and defenseman Ron Pascucci - have since been recalled.
The Admirals had working agreements with two AHL teams in their first championship season in 1990-91 through NHL affiliations with Detroit and Washington.
They were forced by the ECHL to give up the working agreement with Detroit to Toledo when the Storm came into the league the following season.
Cullen also hopes to continue working with Cleveland, which likely will operate as an independent.
PENALIZED: The Admirals brass is fuming about the amount of time Voronov is spending in the penalty box, and they're not mad at Voronov.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Russian has 127 penalty minutes in 31 games. Wednesday, in a 4-3 shootout victory over Richmond, he spent the game's final 11 minutes in the penalty box after receiving a 2-minute minor and a 10-minute misconduct penalty.
Admirals coach John Brophy was told that Voronov got the misconduct for not reporting quickly enough to the penalty box on a night when the Renegades were often tardy in going to the box.
``He's getting penalties that shouldn't be called at all,'' Brophy said.
``He's a big guy, and he knocks people down hard. They don't see too many guys who hit people, and hit them cleanly like he does, and they and don't know what to do with it.
``They figure he must be doing something wrong so they give him two (minutes).
``Plus, guys are laying all over the ice like dogs when he hits them, trying to get penalties.
``Voronov knows what's going on. He knows all about hockey.'' by CNB